slaves they sell to the Europeans, from the upland
country.—That the inhabitants of Popo excell
the former; being endowed with a much larger share
of courage, they rob more successfully, by which means
they increase their riches and trade,” The author
particularly remarks, “That they are encouraged
in this practice by the Europeans; sometimes it
happens, according to the success of their inland excursions,
that they are able to furnish two hundred slaves or
more, in a few days.” And he says,[C] “The
blacks of Fida, or Whidah, are so expeditious in trading
for slaves, that they can deliver a thousand every
month.”—“If there happens to
be no stock of slaves there, the factor must trust
the blacks with his goods, to the value of one hundred
and fifty, or two hundred pounds; which goods they
carry up into the inland country, to buy slaves at
all markets,[D] for above six hundred miles up the
country, where they are kept like cattle in Europe;
the slaves sold there being generally prisoners of
war, taken from their enemies like other booty, and
perhaps some few sold by their own countrymen, in
extreme want, or upon a famine, as also some as a punishment
of heinous crimes.” So far Barbot’s
account; that given by William Bosman is as follows:[E]
“When the slaves which are brought from the inland
countries come to Whidah, they are put in prison together;
when we treat concerning buying them, they are all
brought out together in a large plain, where, by our
surgeons, they are thoroughly examined, and that naked,
both men and women, without the least distinction or
modesty.[F] Those which are approved as good, are
set on one side; in the mean while a burning iron,
with the arms or name of the company, lies in the fire,
with which ours are marked on the breast. When
we have agreed with the owners of the slaves, they
are returned to their prisons, where, from that time
forward, they are kept at our charge, and cost us two
pence a day each slave, which serves to subsist them
like criminals on bread and water; so that to save
charges, we send them on board our ships the very
first opportunity; before which, their masters strip
them of all they have on their backs, so that they
come on board stark naked, as well women as men.
In which condition they are obliged to continue, if
the master of the ship is not so charitable (which
he commonly is) as to bestow something on them to
cover their nakedness. Six or seven hundred are
sometimes put on board a vessel, where they lie as
close together as it is possible for them to be crowded.”
[Footnote A: John Barbot, page 47.]
[Footnote B: Bosman, page 310.]
[Footnote C: Barbot, page 326.]